How we operate

How we approach every job

These are the steps we take to make sure everything goes smoothly

Contact Us

Get In contact with us via telephone or email and we will discuss the details of your shoot

Quote

We will then check to see if it's possible for flights to take place and send you a quote.

Permissions

If you are happy for us to undertake the job we will make sure all permissions are in place.

Production Pack

We will send you all the relevant information regarding the shoot from our end in a production pack.

Shoot Day

On the day, we will come ready to shoot so we don't waste any time. Once shots have been discussed we can start shooting.

Rushes

At the end of the day the rushes will be made available to you on a hard drive unless we have discussed alternative means of delivery.

Permissions

In order to operate a UAV for commercial purposes, the operator must hold a ‘Permission for Aerial Work’ granted by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). This is a mandatory requirement. We have demonstrated by completing the BNUC-S pilots course, writing an operations manual and completing a flight test that we are competent UAV pilots.

Before any flight can take place we also need the permission of the person who’s land we will be taking-off and landing from. If we need to fly over land we will also need that owners permission.

Working distances

In order to operate safely we need to observe a few flight restrictions.

We can not fly:

over, or within 150 metres of, any congested area of a city, town or settlement (for example city centres)

within 50 metres of any person, vessel, vehicle or structure not under the control of the pilot-in-charge, reducing to 30 metres during take-off and landing. (This is relevant to the general public and those not part of the UAV operations. Performers and those part of the shoot will have been briefed and under our control allowing us to fly much closer to them).

If we are required to operate outside these restrictions this can be achieved by putting forward a safety case to the CAA in advance. We can handle these permissions if they are required.

Insurance

Through holding a Permissions for aerial work from the CAA we are able to get the legally required insurance. We are fully insured up to 5 million pounds for public and property liability.

Sensitive areas

We conduct a full survey before undertaking any flights. In some situations the shoot location is in a sensitive area such as close to airports that have controlled airspace. We are able to operate here but require clearance from air traffic control.

Operational bubble

Operating in line with the CAA regulations we can fly from 1 ft to 400ft in the air allowing for dramatic reveals, birdseye views and dynamic manouvers

Whilst always operating within line of sight we can fly up to 500m from the pilot. Giving previously unattainable low level tracking shots across land and water. To increase flights above 500m we can be operated from a moving vehicle giving an unrestrictive horizontal distance.

Aircraft

Our aircraft are custom designed in-house and designed for aerial filming.

We use the latest flight controllers and gimbal technology and have optimised each aircraft for their given payload resulting in smooth vibration free footage.

We service all our aircraft and have a full understanding of how they work. This is very important to us as we don’t want to be in a remote location and not be able to fix a small technical issue. Our team comes to every job fully prepared with spares for any eventuality.

Team

We operate a two man team consisting of a pilot and a camera operator. If we are working close to the general public we may require additional personnel. This is determined on a job by job basis and can be provided by the client in many situations. Any additional people will need to be briefed before flights can take place.

Weather

At the moment we can’t operate in any form of rain or snow or winds above 14mph. We monitor the weather forecast on the run up to a shoot and during the shooting day to make sure we make the most of the time available.

Summary

Article Name

How we operate for safe UAV (Drone) filming and photography in UK

Author

The Fly Company

Description

We operate drones (UAV) strictly in accordance with the CAA permissions. Safety is always our priority when providing aerial filming for the film, television and branded content agencies.